GUEST

Expert Advice for Your Year-End Tax Filing

CBN.com
TAX TIPS
As a result of our struggling economy, Gordon says we are all going to pay more in taxes. For those with the highest tax bracket who were paying 35% in taxes they will now pay 39.6% in taxes. For those individuals in the middle tax bracket who were paying 15 – 28% in taxes will now pay 28 – 36%. And finally, those who are in the lowest tax bracket whose taxes were 10% they will now be paying 15% in taxes.

In order to help you reduce your tax liability and make better informed financial decisions, Gordon offers the following advice:

Put More In Your Retirement accounts - Workers can contribute up to $17,000 to employer-based plans. Workers 50 and older can contribute up to $22,500. Call your HR Department for more information. Money you contribute to your plan (if it’s not a Roth) is excluded from your income, lowering your tax bill.

Maximize IRA Deductions – applies to both spouses if married - Up to $5000 per person or up to $6000 if you are 50 or older

Give Big to Charity - increase your refund chances - If you plan to make a significant gift to charity this year, consider giving appreciated stocks or mutual fund shares that you’ve owned for more than one year. Doing so boosts the savings on your tax return.

Avoid Penalties on Your Return - If you expect you’ll owe more than $1,000 to the IRS when you file your 2012 return next spring, you can avoid an underpayment penalty by boosting the withholdings from your wages now.

Evaluate Your Portfolio - Sell any investments for which you have large gains; Sell any investments for which you have losses.

Watch Your Flexible Spending Accounts - With year-end approaching, check to see if your employer has adopted a grace period permitted by the IRS, allowing employees to spend 2012 set-aside money as late as March 15, 2013. If not, you can do what employees have always done and make a last-minute trip to the drug store, dentist or optometrist to use up the funds in your account. A contribution limit of $2,500 for flexible spending accounts has been put in place for 2013.

VISION
With no real business mentor when he was young, Gordon turned to the Bible for wisdom. Then as a young executive, Gordon used the Bible as his guidebook for success. When he began working for a national corporation, Gordon was required to provide the next year’s budget five months in advance. Gordon recorded an anticipated mild increase in growth and profit like his colleagues for a year. Then he decided to write a better future with a more aggressive budget, a bigger number, and then take aggressive actions to get to those specific results. Although most of his peers laughed at him Gordon persevered. He didn’t think he was better than his colleagues; he simply believed in more potential and that the unseen would come to pass. Year after year, Gordon exceeded his peers’ performance on an annual and cumulative basis. “The moral of the story is I would have never left the path of complacency and mediocrity unless I took the visionary pathway,” reveals Gordon. He decided to apply this visionary formula to the rest of his life.

Gordon says everything starts with vision. “It is the process that brings imagination to creation. He says vision has a simplistic formula that can solve the complexities of your life and make it marvelous. Gordon encourages others to apply his simplistic visionary approach for success in their own lives. We are all born visionaries but somehow, as get older, we become immersed in a society that becomes content with mediocrity. Gordon reminds us through God’s Word that His power is available in you to accomplish anything. “Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. (Ephesians 3:20) Whether you want to generate more income, start a business, or earn your degree he says it is just a visionary plan away. He encourages others to clearly write down their visions and share it with others as a way to gather supportive energy.

His book Vision came to fruition as a result of prayer. Gordon asked God where he could be used as His instrument. The answer he received was that he had the ability to teach other people about this simplistic visionary process. “I wrote this book so it will help others,” shares Gordon. Since June, Gordon has been traveling to churches and sharing his visionary message. He provides all attendees with a free copy of his book. “One of the greatest things the church can do is connect a person’s faith to reality,” reveals Gordon. He hopes that Vision will be the roadmap that individuals need to achieve their goals.